LOS ANGELES — Minutes after winning their first-ever Grammy Award (for Best Rock Album, in case you're keeping score at home), Muse's Matthew Bellamy and Dominic Howard stood backstage at the Staples Center, holding a replica of their brand-new Golden Gramophone — "the real one's in the mail," Bellamy laughed — and looking very much like their heads might explode at any second.

Because, really, after a year in which they finally, totally conquered U.S. audiences with their Resistance album and singles like "Uprising" and "Undisclosed Desires," winning a Grammy is pretty much the capper on a thoroughly amazing year for the trio.

"I never expected to win something like this in America," Bellamy beamed. "It's probably the biggest, most important music award in the world, and it's a great honor. Especially since it's an award for the album we made. We've won quite a lot of awards for our live show, but we've never quite won an award for the actual album, so it's amazing."

So now, the next logical step is the follow-up to The Resistance. Muse's short-term plans include a quick run of South American shows and a much-deserved break, but that doesn't mean they're not already making recording plans — which at this point, basically, include "all being based in the same city, London, which, for us, will definitely be a different approach." And Bellamy, who is expecting his first child with actress Kate Hudson, already has an idea or two about how Muse's new songs will sound. And, yes, his impending fatherhood is weighing heavily on his mind.

"Yeah, I'm definitely going to bring out the Vibraphone, [maybe write] a lullaby, things like that," he laughed. "I'll definitely get a lullaby on there."

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